When is the right time to start a family? Who has it hardest, teen moms or teen dads? How do we get stereotyped by friends, family and strangers, and how does that change the way we see ourselves? Does telling a lie matter if you are doing something for the greater good? All of these questions came up when we spent a week reading aloud and discussing two books about teenage pregnancy at the Juvenile Detention Center.

We read The Pregnancy Project by Gabby Rodriquez the first half of the week and followed it with The First Part Last by Angela Johnson the second half of the week. Reading these two books side by side ended up working really well. Our book club was split over which title was their favorite and why.

When asked who had it harder, everyone went with Bobby in The First Place Last, who is doing his best to be a teen dad and finish high school. When asked if the author Angela Johnson did a good job of getting into the head of a teenage boy, every teenage boy in the group answered “yes.” The Pregnancy Project was a page turner, all but one of our teens read ahead and everyone had finished it by day three.

One of my favorite parts of book club is that often the guards will drop in to talk about the book. They try to keep up on what we are reading and always have their own opinions they are willing to share. It really feels like everyone at the JDC is into book club that one week a month.